Master
in Teaching at The Evergreen State College

A Graduate Teacher Education
Program With a Difference

When The Evergreen State College
was chartered by the state of Washington in 1967, the
founders were directed to offer an alternative to
traditional education. The alternative nature
of the college, and of the Master in Teaching (MIT)
Program, is reflected in an absence of academic
departments, the ongoing creation of cross-curricular
programs, the use of narrative evaluations instead of
letter grades, a reliance on primary materials rather
than textbooks, frequent writing assignments, student
dialogue and the inclusion of service learning.

The MIT Program is built on the
same basic concepts as the Evergreen curriculum while
also holding graduate-level, professional studies
expectations. In line with the Evergreen philosophy, we
are committed to bridging theory and practice.

Planning for the MIT Program
began in the mid-1980s in response to state and national
calls for reform in teacher preparation. The program is a
direct result of a 1987 law passed by the Washington
State Legislature requiring the State Board of Education
to work cooperatively with the Higher Education
Coordinating Board to implement rules to develop
... the standards ... for a post-baccalaureate teacher
preparation program that results in the acquisition of a
master in teaching degree.

The legislation called for an
innovative teacher preparation program. In response,
Evergreen sought to include high intellectual demands, a
strong theory base, substantial involvement with schools,
sensitivity to multicultural and human relations, a
variety of instructional strategies, emphasis on new
technology and research and close cooperation with K-12
teachers and administrators.

The MIT program  which
graduated its first students in 1992  meets all
state of Washington Administrative Code standards for
program quality and beginning teacher competence.
Graduates of the MIT program receive the MIT degree and
are recommended by the college to the state of Washington
for initial teacher certification.

The MIT Conceptual Framework: A
Place to Become a Teacher

We believe the program's success
lies as much in the learning processes used to
investigate content as it does in the content itself.
Though we teach particular subjects, our processes are
also content. Community building, seminars,
collaborative learning, group problem solving, extensive
field experiences and critical and reflective thinking
are not just ideas MIT students read about and are then
directed to use when they teach. Rather, these are the
processes used daily in the program to help graduate
students learn to become skilled, competent professionals
who can assume leadership roles in curriculum
development, child advocacy, assessment and anti-bias
work.

How can public education meet
the needs of the diversity of people who live in this
democracy? That is the central question explored by the
MIT Program. We examine what it means to base teacher
education and public education on a multicultural,
democratic, developmental perspective and how
performance-based assessment can promote these values.

Using an interdisciplinary
approach, we weave together three major themes that
inform both content and associated processes throughout
the MIT curriculum:

Democracy and Schooling:
We look at what it means to work and learn in a democracy
operating within a state-supported, advanced capitalist
economy. We help students to understand the evolution of
our current democracy and to critique practices that
exclude particular groups from equitable participation in
society. Democracy is presented as a multidimensional
concept and prospective teachers are guided toward
professional action and reflection on the implications of
the role of the teacher in enacting democratic
school-based decision making that is inclusive of
parents, community members, school personnel and students
as well as democratic classroom learning environments
that are learner-centered and collaborative.

Multucultural and
Anti-Bias Perspective: The curriculum reflects
Evergreen's strong commitment to diversity because we
believe that both teaching and learning must draw from
many perspectives and include a multiplicity of ideas. We
believe in preserving and articulating differences of
ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation rather
than erasing or marginalizing them. We seek to expose MIT
students to the consequences of their cultural
encapsulation in an effort to help future teachers
acquire a critical consciousness. We believe future
teachers must be ready to provide children and youth with
culturally responsive and equitable schooling
opportunities.

Developmentally
Appropriate Teaching and Learning: We understand
that no single instructional model or limited set of
teaching methods responds to the complex cognitive
processes associated with K-12 learning. Our curriculum
reflects the varied social, emotional, physiological and
cognitive growth processes that shape how children and
youth receive, construct, interpret and act on their
experiences. We also understand that the competence of
students is performance based. A broad-based curriculum
that is interdisciplinary, developmentally appropriate,
meaningful and guided by a competent and informed
teacher, as well as by learner interests, results in
active learning.

Teaching With Integrity

MIT students examine what it
means to teach with integrity by exploring a set of
questions about community and school learning
environments, such as:

How can teachers incorporate research on multiple
intelligence into classroom instruction to
benefit all learners?

How can teachers plan instruction that is
informed by culturally based learning strengths
rather than perceived weaknesses?

How can teachers who have been socialized to
accept the values of the dominant culture learn
to educate children and youth without ignoring,
denying or rejecting their cultural heritage?

How can teachers apply current knowledge about
language acquisition to benefit learners in
multilingual settings?

What role might Paulo Freire's liberatory
learning philosophy play in enhancing both state
and national educational
reform?

How can teachers respond and act on cultural and
political myths?

What will it mean in general to be an educated
person in the United States in the 21st century?

The MIT Program applies the
Evergreen coordinated studies model, organizing the
curriculum around themes or questions. An
interdisciplinary team of faculty and a group of
approximately 60 full-time students form a community of
learners to explore the curricular themes. This allows
for a flexible, intensive schedule that creates a climate
in which interactive learning can occur. Competition
among students is de-emphasized and collaboration
encouraged; ranking of students or faculty is absent.
Student input is highly valued. Faculty members are
facilitators of learning and co-learners with students
and colleagues as well as experts. Seminars, small-group
discussions in which one faculty member and approximately
15 students analyze readings and review field
experiences, are a central component of this coordinated
studies model.

The Evergreen Center for
Educational Improvement

The mission of the Evergreen Center for Educational
Improvement is to work
with school communities across Washington state to
reach their objectives for improving K-12 education
programs. The Center focuses on improving student
learning by working primarily with in-service teachers on
curriculum development utilizing conceptually based
integrated studies and the state's Essential Academic
Learning Requirements as well as on classroom-based
assessment of learning.

One way in which the MIT Program
attends to education reform in Washington state is by
consulting with the director of the Center when designing
that aspect of the MIT curriculum which infuses the
state's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (K-12).
Serving as a resource faculty member for the MIT Program,
the Center director also offers an additional
theory-to-practice connection by sharing Center
experiences and expertise in moving in-service teachers
from the stated purposes and goals of education reform in
Washington to the actual work and results of
restructuring at the school district level.

The MIT Program at Evergreen is
a full-time, six-quarter, two-year professional teacher
preparation program leading to initial teacher
certification in Washington state and the MIT degree. The
faculty team for each MIT cycle provides students with a
covenant of mutual responsibilities and program
requirements. Graduate-level expectations and criteria
for successful completion of the MIT Program are
explained in detail in the program covenant, distributed
to all incoming students in the MIT program's Student
Guidebook to College and Program Policies and Procedures.

The program connects theory to
practice by including two full quarters of student
teaching and substantial field experience. During the
first year of the program, approximately one-fourth of
program time is spent in the field observing and working
with students. The remaining time is devoted to on-campus
seminars, workshops and lectures. During the second year,
students spend nearly 70 percent of their time directly
involved in K-12 schools. Students are expected
to carry no other academic credit during the six program
quarters and to avoid outside employment during the two
quarters of full-time, daily student teaching.

The program will meet
primarily on weekdays during mornings and afternoons. A
tentative schedule for the first year calls for students
to:

Meet the equivalent of three full days per week
on the Olympia campus.

Spend an average of six hours per week observing
and participating in K-12 schools.

An endorsement identifies the subject matter and grade
level at which an individual may teach in Washington
schools. Before beginning the MIT Program, students must
have their subject-matter endorsement course work
completed or nearly completed (within 12 quarter hours).

Evergreen's endorsement
requirements meet, and in most cases exceed, state
minimums in these subject areas. Subject-area
endorsements for teaching within a departmentalized
system are granted by Washington state for grades four
through 12. According to the Washington Administrative
Code, Kindergarten through grade eight endorsement
shall be granted in the subject area of elementary
education which shall include all subject areas taught in
such grades.

The MIT program will review and
approve up to two subject-matter endorsements for
admission. Only those subject-matter endorsements
approved during the admissions process qualify for
consideration by the MIT Program for the initial teaching
certificate.

On the application for admission
to the MIT Program, prospective students indicate their
grade-level preference for future teaching: either K-8,
elementary/middle,or
4-12, middle/secondary (see Key
Definitions below). Students who are undecided about
grade level at the time of admission, and who also meet
admission requirements for teaching at the secondary
level must make a final decision on their grade-level
choice before the end of fall quarter in the first year.

Teaching Certification
Reciprocity With Other States

The state of Washington holds
reciprocity agreements with a number of other states.
This means the Washington teaching certification is
recognized by nearly all other states.

MIT applicants interested in
teaching in departmentalized classrooms grades four
through 12 must have a major endorsement and
are encouraged to add a minor endorsement as well.

Major endorsements available
through the Evergreen undergraduate curriculum include:

Science: biology

Science: chemistry

English

Foreign language (German, French or Spanish)

Mathematics

Science: physics

Social studies

Music education is also a major endorsement
recognized by the state of Washington. To determine an
applicant's eligibility for a music endorsement, a
qualified Evergreen faculty member will review a
transcript from another institution. Minor endorsements
that could be added to a major endorsement are listed in
the following section describing the K-8 endorsement. For
further information, contact the MIT admissions officer
or Evergreen's Academic Advising Office (see below).

MIT applicants interested in
the K-8 teaching certificate earn the
elementary education endorsement within the MIT Program;
however, to qualify as an MIT candidate at the time of
admission, an individual must fulfill either one major
subject-area endorsement (see above) or two minor
endorsements.

Minor endorsements available
through the Evergreen undergraduate curriculum include:

Art

English

Mathematics

Biology

French

Physics

Chemistry

German

Political Science

Economics

History

Spanish

Other minor endorsements
recognized by the state of Washington can be evaluated by
a qualified Evergreen faculty on the basis of a
transcript from another institution. They include: anthropology;
bilingual education; computer science (instructional
technology); designated foreign language (contact the MIT
Office for particular language eligibility); English as a
second language; drama; earth science; geography;
journalism; music; philosophy; psychology; sociology;
special education; and speech. For further
information, contact the MIT admissions officer (see
below).

Natural science and elementary
math (see worksheets) are concentrations recognized by
Evergreen as equivalent to endorsements only for purposes
of admission for K-8 teacher candidates, but they do not
constitute endorsements on a teaching certificate.

MIT applicants lacking
required endorsement course work at the time of admission
must complete such courses either in the summer before
the first year of the program or in the summer between
the first and second year. It is not possible to take
endorsement course work during the six quarters of the
MIT Program.

To be considered for admission,
applicants must be within 12 credits of completing all
endorsement requirements in their chosen subject areas by
the time the MIT Program cycle begins Completion of all
endorsement course work is a prerequisite for student
teaching, which begins fall quarter of the second year.
For endorsement requirements, review the descriptions of
major and minor endorsements.

Teaching Certificate:
A student who successfully completes the MIT Program will
be eligible to receive Washington's beginning-level
teaching certificate. Washington's teacher certification
system is currently under review by the State Board of
Education and candidates in the 1999-2001 MIT Program may
be affected by any changes that result from this review.
Program staff and faculty will keep students informed of
any changes.

OSPI: Office of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Washington state)

WAC: Washington
Administrative Code

RCW: Revised Code
of Washington

Endorsement: The
subject area, grade level or specialization, specified on
the certificate, that the individual is prepared to teach. See WAC 180-78-010 (2).
The MIT Program's endorsement requirements meet and
exceed the minimum requirements of the OSPI.

K-8:
Kindergarten through grade eight endorsement shall be granted in the subject area of
elementary education which shall include all subject
areas taught in such grades. (WAC 180-79-080).

4-12: Subject-area endorsement for teaching
grades 4 through 12 within a departmentalized system.

Concentration: The MIT Program's term for an
academic area of study that meets Evergreen's
requirements for admission but does not meet OSPI
requirements for an endorsement.

The Evergreen State College is
an hour's drive from the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Olympia
is also served by the Greyhound and Trailways bus
companies and Amtrak rail service. Evergreen and the
state capital are just a short, scenic drive from most
Western Washington cities and major points of interest.

How to Get to Evergreen

Whether you are coming from the
north or south, you can reach the campus by taking
Interstate 5 into Olympia and then turning onto Highway
101 at Exit 104. Follow 101 west for three miles to The
Evergreen State College exit and go another two miles on
the Evergreen Parkway to the campus entrance (on the
left).